The Holiday Season Christina V.

The Holiday Season

By Christina V.

The holiday season, from Thanksgiving through New Year's, can be a super stressful time. People get caught up in preparing for the holidays: decorating, extra cooking, extra shopping, spending extra time doing things for church, school, volunteering, etc, and spending more time with family and friends than usual. All of this on top of things you do on a regular basis can make you feel positively burnt out by the time New Year's arrives.

There is nothing wrong with any of the above things but sometimes, there's something called "a little too much of a good thing". Do you really need to decorate your entire home? What if you cut back and just decorate the living room and the front yard? Do you need to bake cookies for ALL your friends and family? What about just people you're super close to? Apply this to everything. Do these things, but learn to cut back.

Try to focus on why we celebrate these holidays in the first place. First off, Thanksgiving. It's a time to celebrate with family or friends (or both) and eat a delicious meal together and take time to reflect on everything you're thankful for. But if you're so caught up in doing stuff nonstop, do you think you'll really have a thankful attitude? Probably not. You'll just be super relieved once Thanksgiving dishes are finally all washed and put away and you can curl up in a chair and relax. Then, there's Christmas. It's crazy how big of a deal this holiday is to EVERYONE. Christians celebrate it to remember Jesus being sent to earth and being born as a human to later die and save the world. Unfortunately, a great majority of people forget this true meaning of Christmas and get caught up in everything else that Christmas is known for: extreme holiday shopping, Santa Claus, etc. Instead, I think it's important to put Jesus first and to remember that He is truly the reason for the season and the entire rest of the year as well. Christians should take some time this Christmas season and thank God for sending His Son to die for us and rise again to save us. People get overwhelmed during Christmas, don't let that be you. Focus on what is TRULY important.

And of course, there's New Year's. It's a time to start fresh and clean for a new year. People make personal goals for themselves (and usually give up by the time February rolls around). How about this year, you decide to actually stick with these goals? And how about including a goal to get closer to God and spend more time in His Word? How awesome would it be to start your year with Jesus at the forefront of your mind?

Don't stress this holiday season. Remember to put Jesus first and have a positive attitude about everything even though it may get a little crazy. And don't forget to count your blessings.